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January 15, 2013

I Pay More in Health Insurance Premiums Than Paul Lemle

After working hard to give the intellectual stomach flu known as Ann DeLacy to the Howard County Board of Education, HCEA Paul Lemle is at it again. I'm going to guess that Sara Toth was doing her job when she wrote this article about Lemle and his latest round of complaining, about how much in health insurance premiums HCPSS employees pay as opposed to the county's contribution.

Using the numbers in Sara's article, in fiscal 2010 employees paid 15.6% of premiums, while in fiscal 2013, that number goes up to 18.9%. Oh, and by the by Paul, both the employees AND the county's contributions have gone up in terms of dollars, not gone down. Health insurance premiums tend to rise. Market forces and all.

But even at 18.9% of total premiums, that amount is much less, by percentage, than what most private sectors pay. For example, I work at an institution that's fairly well-known for the medical facilitities affiliated with it, and I pay, for my Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, about 26% of the premiums. And I'm going to bet that many of you pay a higher percentage. And, how about you small business people out there, who have to provide for your employees' coverage? Do you feel sympathy for the citizens of Planet Lemle?

Paul, here's a suggestion. Work on some HCEA-based initiatives like teacher-to-teacher mentoring. Maybe come to an agreement with the Superintendent on teacher appraisals and whatever other issues are there. But don't bawl like a toddler about the very nice deal your employees get from the county for your health insurance premiums. And be glad you're not negotiating with me. Because with every news article like the one I cited above, your employees would be paying two percentage points more.

Don't blame all HCPSS employees for the stupidity of a few like PL. Just like the last fool HCES president, Mr. L jumped out of the classroom and into the cushy job of HCEA President. Given what little work he actually does over the course of a year, he should be the LAST HCPSS employee to bellyache over health insurance. Why can't the teachers of HC elect someone with an ounce of intelligence and 3 ounces of good judgment?

Hi Bill,
I missed this--sorry. I'm not sure exactly why you characterize me this way, but it's fine. I'd be more than happy to negotiate with you--you are customarily unprepared and loose with the facts. I'd have you pinned to the table in about five minutes. We are working with Dr. Foose (and staff) on a peer assistance and review program (similar to Montgomery) and on evaluations in general.

On health care, however, we are talking about something different than premium share. Once we've contractually agreed to a particular share, what should be done about a surplus?

Here's an example. Let's say we've agreed upon an 80/20 split. After a budget year of $100M, there's a surplus of $10M. What should happen? HCEA's contention is that one reasonable solution would be to reduce the employer's share in the next year by $8M and the employee's by $2M. My example is very consistent with the experience of HCPSS over the past several years.

There are plenty of ways to do this, and it's not necessary to go into them all here. Our neighbors in Frederick County have an insurance council which makes rate setting decisions, followed by end-of-year reconciliation decisions. The employers and unions sit together in this group to do it.

GWH--this job stinks. I love teaching, and I'll be out of your hair before you know it.
PL

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